higuchimon | [fanfic] Digimon Adventure: Ruins of Remembrance

Title: Ruins of Remembrance
Characters: Yamato, Gabumon
Word Count: 500||Status: One-shot
Genre: Angst||Rated: PG
Challenge: Diversity Writing Challenge, section A63, write about a major character; Digimon Flash Bingo, prompt #110, Yokomon Village
Note: This takes place during the Dark Master arc.
Summary: Yamato and Gabumon come across more marks of the Dark Masters' reign, that spark memories from their early days in the Digital World.

Yamato looked around at the clearing in front of them, not sure why it struck familiar mental gongs. He couldn't remember ever having seen a clearing that had little stacks of hay in it, as well as a scent of smoke.

Some of those stacks of hay did look burned, now that he took a better look. A strong air of desolation hung over everything. A tiny tickle in the back of his mind told him that this place should've had people – Digimon – running around in there, bouncing happily from one home to another.

“Gabumon,” he said quietly, trying to gather his thoughts, “can you smell anyone around here?”

His partner sniffed here and there. “I can't be sure. There's a lot of smoke. Those fires weren't all that long ago.”

Yamato nodded, moving carefully around the edges of the clearing. Whatever was in there, he didn't want to disturb it. “Does this place feel like you should know it? Because it does to me.”

There wasn't a reply at first. Then Gabumon slowly nodded. “It feels like we've been here before.”

“Yeah.” Yamato paused and looked over the wreckage again. That was what it was: wreckage. The images started to click together in his head. The heaps of hay weren't just hay: they'd been houses once, or the roofs of houses.

With every second his heart sank deeper and deeper and he pressed himself against the nearest tree, trembling.

“Gabumon,” he murmured, wanting to close his eyes but not doing so. Blocking it out wouldn't change anything. “I know what this place is. Or was.”

He could feel his partner's paw on his hand, supporting him. “Yamato?”

He swallowed. He'd never thought he'd see this place again. It hadn't loomed large in his memories before, but to see it like this? Broken and burned, abandoned and forgotten?

“It's the Yokomon village. Remember, back on File Island?” He didn't know how the words made their way out of his throat when they wanted to stick and choke him.

Gabumon's paw tightened around his and he let himself close his eyes, just for a few moments. It wouldn't change anything but he could at least get to where he could move on out of there.

“The Dark Masters did this,” Gabumon murmured. Yamato didn't argue. Who else would have? “They need to be stopped.”

“I know.” Yamato didn't open his eyes and wouldn't have looked at Gabumon if he had. He was right about that, too. But going off half-cocked against those Digimon, with just Gabumon, would end up with him dead, or worse. He could think of a lot of things worse than being dead, and the short experiences he had with the Dark Masters told him that they could probably come up with many more.

Gabumon said nothing else, and finally Yamato pushed himself to his feet and headed away from the ruins. He still had a lot to figure out and this place was too depressing for words.

The End

Note: Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.